I don't want to be a sexy pirate

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It takes place in my favorite season, I love seeing all the children dressed up in costumes, the candy is plentiful and everyone is happy. My wonderful husband takes our son trick-or-treating and I dress up and hand out candy at the door. But here's the thing:

I don't want to be a sexy pirate.

Many people have written about this topic before, and it used to not bother me. But I'm a mom now, and my son asks questions.

There we were, looking at a wall of potential costumes, and my son pointed to the adult female ones. "Look, Mommy. You could be a pirate." I took a look at the woman in the tight leather bustier, barely-there skirt and thigh-high boots. Nope. Not happening.

I told my son I wanted to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland, because that is probably my favorite story of all time.

He pointed to the wall at a "Sexy Alice" costume. I told him I would get my costume elsewhere.

I get it. I do. Halloween can be a fun, liberating time for adults. But I never want to dress in a way that embarrasses my son later in life when he looks through family photo albums. (I have plans to embarrass him in other ways later on.)

But maybe my more demure Alice costume will actually get me more attention. The Wall Street Journal had an article a few months ago about dressing outside the norm to get the most attention. So the person in sweat pants shopping in the high-end store received more attention from shopkeepers, because they assumed the shabby person was more confident than someone who dressed up for the store.

If that holds true outside of shops, then my non-sexy Halloween costume will be noticeable around all the sexy police officers and nurses. In any case, I will be happy playing Alice for a day.

What was your favorite Halloween costume as a child? Share with me in the comments.